Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Dreaming of that Avocado.

I had half an avocado on the salad I ate for lunch today at work.  It instantly took me back to 2 days ago when Sky and I went to On the Border for dinner. I love all Mexican food, but they had a few *new* and exciting dishes listed on their menu. We both decided to try the same new dish. 

It was a simple chicken enchilada and... Get this... half an avocado, stuffed with some sort of creamy chicken concoction, then coated with a tempura batter, then fried.   Not sure on the frying method, but I am willing to try anything and everything if it means I can have this again. 

I might just have to go back to On the Border to investigate a little more.  Maybe take my time with the next one instead of inhaling it, which led the hostess at the front door say "That was fast!" as Sky and I made our exit. Sigh... 

I am dreaming of you, stuffed avocado. 
We'll meet again real soon. 

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Sorry About That...

I said there would be a post regarding some glitter. 


But... I didn't finish the pillow this weekend. 


Therefore, I didn't finish (or even start) the blog post to go with it. 


I AM SORRY. 


I pretty much did nothing this weekend.  And it was awesome. 


Yesterday was Sky's and I three year anniversary.  That was fun. Definitely the highlight of my weekend.  Did some shopping, ate some Mexican food, and enjoyed cake-in-a-bottle... again! 


I told you I can't get enough of that cake-in-a-bottle.  This one was a yellow/butter cake recipe.  Then I layered a peanut butter frosting and Reese's peanut butter cups.  


Cake - PB frosting - Reese's - cake - frosting - Reese's.  That's how that went.  


For the frosting, I just used a canned buttercream frosting and just mixed in peanut butter.  It's definitely a taste thing, add as much as you like! 


Make cake-in-a-bottle. And give it to someone you love lots. 

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

A Blogging Inspiration

I happened upon this blog today. 

And this post in particular.  Honestly, it was just the inspiration I needed. I've been having some writers block lately. Not sure what I want to share, or purely just having nothing "exciting" to write about. 


I need to remember a few *key* things to keeping this blog something I enjoy: write about things I love, write about things I'd want to read about, write in a style I would like to read, make friends (this one might take some time), create a reoccurring feature that will keep people coming back (in the works), and always trust my instincts while writing and formulating ideas. 


I am not sure how i found this blog... Sometimes my web browsing can get quite complicated and I can't remember the maze.  I know for a fact I love this blog.  Lots of DIY, lots of uplifting posts, lots of really cool things, and a way cool look into her amazing wedding. So cute! 


And so my friends, I will strive to write more often and with better content. As long as you keep coming back to Alixx and I. 







Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Summer Quinoa Side Dish

Quinoa... Do you know how long it took me to understand how to even pronounce this word? I kept looking at my mother completely confused every time I talked about it. Kwoon-wa. Koon-woo.  Kown-wah. Kwin-oo. WHAT. 


Keen-wah. That's it. It's engraved in my brain now. 


So what is quinoa? It's grain-like, but not actually a grain. The quinoa you eat are the seeds of some sort of grass-like plant. Look it up if you want to know more. 


Of course this is another Pinterest find. Pinterest is amazing. I was on a hunt for a good side dish to go with the paninis, something nice and light.  And this dish delivered (and the blog it's from is super cute). The beauty of it is that you can add anything you like. Anything that's in season and on sale. And there isn't much measuring. Add as much of a veggie as you like! 


Everything you'll need: chicken stock (or veggie), quinoa, extra virgin olive oil, minced garlic, feta cheese, salt/pepper, assorted veggies - zucchini, tomatoes (red/yellow), green onion, avocado, and basil. 

And for the dressing you'll need: honey, lemon juice, lemon zest (I didn't have any), garlic, 

Okay, so get the chicken broth boiling in a sauce pan.

The recipe says to rinse the quinoa... I don't know why you have to, but just do it. And add it to the boiling chicken broth.  Turn the heat down to medium-low, put a lid on the pan, and let it cook for about 25 minutes.

While the quinoa is cooking, start a saute pan (or in my case, a wok because we have no nice nonstick saute pans), add a couple tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and add some garlic to that. Only let this go for a minute a so because the garlic will burn. 

These are the veggies I had prepared to add to the garlic in the wok.  Corn zucchini, and green onion.  Throw those into the wok and saute for a couple minutes. 

This is the cooked quinoa. I burned it a little on the bottom, but that's okay. Fluff it up a little. 

Add the quinoa to the cooked veggies along with half the dressing.  

To make the dressing, just add lemon zest, lemon juice, honey, garlic, salt, and pepper to a small bowl and whisk. 

Allow the above mixture the warm, and fuse together for a minute or so.

Take the pan off the stove, add remaining dressing, tomatoes, basil, and feta cheese.  

I added avocado to my plate once we sat to eat Sky's birthday dinner. IT WAS AWESOME. 

This is delicious warm, it is delicious as cold leftovers. Try it soon!! 

  • 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
  • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed & drained
  • 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 small zucchini, quartered and sliced
  • 1 can sweet corn (or 2 ears of fresh)
  • 2 green onions
  • salt & pepper
  • 1 vine-ripened tomato, chopped - I got red & yellow tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup feta 
  • 2 Tablespoons chopped basil
For the honey lemon vinaigrette: 
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
  • 2 Tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 1/2 Tablespoons honey
  • 1 garlic clove, finely minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
Bring chicken broth to a boil in a saucepan.  Add rinsed quinoa and place a lid on top, turn the heat down to medium-low, then cook until the broth is absorbed and quinoa is tender, about 25 minutes.  Fluff the cooked quinoa with a fork and let cool slightly. 


Meanwhile, combine all ingredients for the honey lemon vinaigrette in a bowl, whisk to combine, set aside. 


Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add garlic and saute until golden brown, about 30 seconds.  Add zucchini, sweet corn, and green onions, season with salt and pepper, then saute until barely tender, about 4 minutes.  Add cooked quinoa and half the honey lemon vinaigrette, then stir and cook for 1 more minute. 


Add remaining vinaigrette, tomatoes, feta cheese, and basil to the skillet.  Stir well, taste, and add more salt & pepper if necessary.  Cool for 10 minutes before serving. 

Enjoy! 

Monday, May 21, 2012

Panini My Love.

*Posting this even though the pictures are sideways. Please forgive me. 


Hi, I'm Kelsey, and I love paninis. And I love them even more now that I have my very own panini grill.  


So paninis are what I made for Sky's birthday dinner.  Let me show you the Cubano paninis I made. And loved. 


Look at that beauty to the left. Hello, love. Everything you need: Awesome panini grill, rolls, black forest ham. turkey (instead of the pork the recipe called for), provolone cheese, Dijon mustard, pickle slices, and cilantro. 

Another sideways picture. Seriously?! So after you smear the outsides of the rolls with butter, slather the insides with the Dijon mustard. Add as much cilantro as you like. I wish I had added more. 

On top of the cilantro, layer cheese, turkey, ham, pickle, then another layer of cheese.  Add the top roll half. 

Carefully put that bad boy on the grill.  These are tall sandwiches beforehand, so make sure it doesn't topple over. Listen to the butter sizzle... It's like a beautiful melody playing lightly in the background of your fantasy of eating buttered, grilled bread forever. 

I want to eat paninis forever. And ever. And ever. 

Friday, May 18, 2012

Birthday Cake in a Bottle!

So for Sky's birthday, I made him dinner. And dessert, obviously. 

And I am going to start with the dessert in this little blog post. I see cake-in-a-jar on Pinterest all the time. I always wanted to try it. So I did! This is the original recipe/idea I used. I didn't want to make a straight up rainbow cake for my very manly boyfriend. So I did a variation. 

Here are the colors I used! So pretty and vibrant. 
Purple, three shades of blue, green, and orange! 

You just make a white cake mix as the box says, and dye the batter as many colors as you want! I did six. I believe the jars I used are pint jars. I really have no idea, but they're like medium.  Not tiny, but not the giant jars. The recipe says to use 3 Tablespoons of each color... There's no real rule of how much to use.  It does puff up, so I would say try to not fill the jar any more than half way with batter. 


I don't know why the above picture is sideways. I can't figure it out. So this is what it looks like right out of the oven. Mine took right around 35 minutes. Aren't they awesome?! I love it. Let them cool down, and you can store them in the fridge for a couple days, but I'm sure they're fine out on the counter.  I say that because I accidentally left mine out all night. 


And the final product! The picture kind of sucks. Sky doesn't like sprinkles, but I put a couple on his any way. And of course a candle! So by this time, the cake had shrunken back down into the bottle (made these on Wednesday, ate them on Thursday).  But I scooped out a little off the top so the frosting would fit pretty much flush with the rim of the bottle. The colors were SO bright once we dug in. And it was delicious. I want to make cake-in-a-bottle every day. 

  • 1 box white cake mix, made according to package
  • Neon food coloring in any colors you want
  • Pint sized jars (2-3)
  • 1 can Vanilla frosting
  • Rainbow sprinkles
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly wash and dry the inside of each canning jar. Spray the inside of each jar thoroughly with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. 

Scoop about 1/2 cups of cake batter into five/six small bowls.  It doesn't have to be perfect, don't panic if you get a little more or less of one color than another. Tint each bowl of cake batter with the food coloring until very vibrant. 

Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the first color into the bottom of each jar. Spoon equal amounts of each of the other colors in whatever order you want.  Place the jars in a shallow baking dish, add about 1/4" of water in the baking dish.  Place the dish in the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. 

Remove jars and allow to cool completely before scooping a small portion off the top of your cake. You can serve immediately by adding a good amount of frosting/sprinkles on top. Or you can put a lid on them and wait.  Store them in the fridge if you're not devouring them within a couple hours. 

Make this for someone special! It is a treat. And I do recommend letting them come back to room temperature if you end up refrigerating them. 

Can't wait to experiment more with cake-in-a-jar! 

Thursday, May 17, 2012

May 17th - It's a Good Day.

It's been two weeks since my birthday. That's not why it's a good day.  Any day after my birthday is an okay day. Any day I grow closer to the next birthday is an okay day. 


Today is a good day because it is Sky's birthday. He's a swell fellow, and I am certainly fond of him. 


Here's a cheesy love song to commemorate the day. 




Awww yeah... What a classic! First thing to pop up on my iPod when I hit shuffle. Fate. 


Come what may... I'll love ya forever, Sky. Happy Birthday!! 

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

My Summer To-Do List.

1 more day. 


1. 


One. 


I can't wait to be done with this semester. It has dragged on! Plus I've been so busy, and I just want to chillax. That's all I want to do. 


So here are some things I want to do this summer: 


1. Get tan. This is a goal every summer. 


2. Go swimming. Again, every summer. Especially in Arizona.


3. Work on my scrapbook. Yeah, that's right. I scrapbook.  Have since I was like seven.  The one I'm currently working on is a scrapbook completely for Sky and I. I started it probably six months after we started dating. I'm a solid two years behind. Because I'm awesome like that! I love scrapbooking though. It gets my creative juices flowing. Plus I need to hardcore catch up. 


4. I want to cook/bake. I shared this earlier, but seriously. I am definitely going to give macarons a lot more tries. The first time didn't go as well as I would have hoped.  


5. I am going to make a quilt out of all my old t-shirts. Saw this idea on Pinterest and LOVED it! (I love this whole blog btw. Lil Blue Boo is so amazing!) I have so many old t-shirts, and really the only reason I have held on to them are the memories tied to them. Umm hello marching band shirts from all four years? So that will also help me clean my dresser out. SO excited. 


6. Going along with the sewing thing, I also want to make some throw/decorative pillows for my bed.  Right now I only have the four that are sleeping pillows. I'm going to make my bed a pillow fortress! 


7. Go on vacation. Already in the works! I'll be spending some quality time with my love bug in San Diego! Visiting my sista & bro-in-law, kickin' it on the beach, having fun. 


8. Alixx and I must make aprons. Special Second Friday aprons! 


9. Make a lot of panini's.  I got this panini maker as a nice graduation gift from my Mom. How nice! I want to make every panini in the cookbook she got me too.  


I have to stop thinking about summer. I get so excited. 

Thursday, May 3, 2012

On This Anniversary of the Day I Was Born.

Oh cool beans. It's May 3rd. 


That's all I have to say about that. 


I have work/school all day. 


Then I'll come home to some delicious Mexican food, brought to me by my one & only.  And I shall feast. 


It's not that I think other people are old. It's not that I hate being old, or feeling old. It's just that I value my youth. I've had some fun times. And I'm not ready to be a true adult yet. I want to continue telling funny/weird stories to my best friend. I want to make shirts for all special occasions and giggle when I'm about to meet someone really famous (post about this coming soon).  I want to go out [occasionally] and feel young and free. And I want to accomplish a lot of things before I settle down.  I love being young. 


So please, if you read this. Do ONE thing for me on my stupid birthday. Go like Second Friday on Facebook. It is literally all I want.